Fire Danger Creeps Up

Dry weather has taken over the last few weeks in southern Colorado.

In response, the Colorado Springs Fire Department raised the fire danger to moderate.

But a big part of the added fire danger is thanks to the wet weather this past spring, and it happened quickly.

“We’ve dried out significantly,” said Lt. Mike Evers of the Colorado Springs Fire Department.

Part of the problem goes back to all of that rain in the spring.

“We’ve had (the fuel moisture) grow way up,” said Evers.

By moisture, Evers means grasses and weeds in areas like Pulpit Rock Open Space.

Susan Haines walks the open space often and has noticed the dryness.

“It’s crept up from earlier in the summer,” she said.

With the weather getting cooler, there’s a tendency to not worry as much about wildfires.

“I think people start getting complacent, especially with cigarettes and being out with campfires,” said Haines.

But firefighters say that it’s no time to let down your guard.

Evers said, “Just a couple of years ago we had the Fern Lake fire in the Rocky Mountain National Park which burned well into October.”

Of course, the area is very familiar with what can happen in southern Colorado when it gets too dry.

Sallie Kaupanger, of Colorado Springs, said, “My neighbor and I climbed out on the ridge above our houses and saw the fire come out of Waldo Canyon and into Mountain Shadows and I said ‘I’m out of here.'”

Hopefully that is something that no one in the area will have to worry about anytime soon.